Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A question that gets asked of us almost on a daily basis is, "What size stamps do I need to put on my invitations?" Usually we hear this from people who are ordering personalized stamps or the like from places such as www.zazzle.com. It used to be that we would find a sample of the order (or a similar order), throw it on our handy-dandy lil' postage meter, and let the customer know what amount came up. Those were the good years, or as we call them now, "the times before the dark times."

OK, maybe that's being a bit melodramatic. But it's true -- due to recent changes in the way that the U.S. Postal Service operates, we absolutely cannot give out any postage information. Because there are so many different charges that could be applied to your order, we highly recommend visiting the post office from where you're going to mail your cards and get the information straight from the horse's mouth.

Possible charges that might apply to your cards:

-- is the card oversize?

-- is it rigid?

-- is it overweight?

-- is it square?

The answers to these questions and more can be located here at the official U.S.P.S. Web site. While we'd love to be able to answer your questions about how much your mailing will cost, we simply can't. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in the comment section.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

A few months ago we created a truly magnificent "Moulin Rouge"-inspired luxury Bat Mitzvah invitation. The initial design request, based on a young girl's photo, gave our designers free range to create a beautiful and extravagant card. We spent hours communicating with Michael Zac Designs, based out of Manhattan, taking tones from her reddish hair and creating a life-like sketch to incorporate into the final elegant invitation

A custom die-cut banner was designed to mimic a Broadway musical. French scrolls patterned the tone-on-tone onyx layers; three tiny rhinestones separated the phrase, "Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love"; and simple and elegant typesetting completed the affair.

The couture invitation suite set the tone for the wild evening, which surprised guests with magicians, walking centerpieces, gymnasts and fire-breathers. The French scroll pattern was incorporated into large, movable boxes that performances were held on. One of the most intriguing aspects of the invitation's impact was that our design came to life, with a 20-ft. entrance wall created to unveil the cover of the young woman's invitation.

As her guests walked in, performers were stationed on ladders, and the wall art was taken apart piece by piece, revealing her hand-drawn picture. It was a truly special event that started with a truly custom invitation.